Palazzo Vecchio (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 27 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence, overlooks the Piazza della Signoria. Its entrance is flanked by a copy of Michelangelo‘s David statue (erected in 1910, the original once stood at the entrance from its completion in 1504 to 1873, when it was moved to the Accademia Gallery) and Baccio Bandinelli‘s statue of Hercules and Cacus.

Check out “Gallerie dell’Accademia”

Palazzo Vecchio entrance

Originally called the Palazzo della Signoria (after the Signoria of Florence, the ruling body of the Republic of Florence), it was, in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history, also called the Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo dei Priori and Palazzo Ducale. After the Medici duke’s residence was moved, across the Arno River, to the Palazzo Pitti, the building acquired its current name.

Copy of Michaelangelo’s David

When Cosimo later removed to Palazzo Pitti, he officially renamed the Palazzo della Signoria, his former palace, to the Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”), although the adjacent town square, the Piazza della Signoria, still bears the original name. Although most of it is now a museum, the Palazzo Vecchio remains as the symbol and center of local government.

Hercules and Cacus (Baccio Bandinelli)

Here is the historical timeline of the palace:

In 1299,the Florentine commune and people decided to build a palace that would be worthy of the Florence’s importance and, in times of turbulence, would be more secure and defensible for the magistrates of the commune. Construction was begun by Arnolfo di Cambio (the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Croce church) upon the ruins of Palazzo dei Fanti and Palazzo dell’Esecutore di Giustizia once owned by the Uberti family.
In 1353, the clock of the Torre d’Arnolfo was constructed by the Florentine Nicolò Bernardo.
In the 15th century,Michelozzo Michelozzi added decorative bas-reliefs of the cross and the Florentine lily in the spandrels between the trefoil arches of the windows.
In 1494, the Salone dei Cinquecento chamber was built.
In May 1540, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (later to become grand duke) moved his official seat, from the Medici palazzo in Via Larga, to the Palazzo della Signoria, signaling the security of Medici power in Florence.
In 1565, the frescoes at the first courtyard were painted by Giorgio Vasari for the wedding celebration of Francesco I de’ Medici (the eldest son of Cosimo I de’ Medici) to Archduchess Johanna of Austria (sister of the Emperor Maximilian II).
Between 1555 and 1572, the surviving decorations were made by Giorgio Vasari and his helpers, among them Livio Agresti from Forlì. They mark the culmination of Mannerism and make this hall the showpiece of the palace.
In 1667, the tower clock was replaced with a replica made by Georg Lederle from the German town of Augsburg (Italians refer to him as Giorgio Lederle of Augusta) and installed by Vincenzo Viviani.
From 1865–71, at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Italy, the palace gained new importance as the seat of united Italy’s provisional government.
Since 1872, it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence and is the seat of the City Council.

Trefoil arched windows at the facade

The solid, massive and cubical building, made of solid rusticated stonework, has two rows of two-lighted Gothic windows, each with a trefoil arch, and is crowned with a projecting crenellated battlement supported by small arches (under which are a repeated series of nine painted coats of arms of the Florentine republic) and corbels.

The 9 Forentine coat-of-arms

Some of these arches are used as embrasures (spiombati) for dropping heated liquids or rocks on invaders.

Torre d’Arnolfo

The simple, 94 m. high rectangular Torre d’Arnolfo (named after its designer Arnolfo di Cambio) has a large, one-handed clock.

The tower clock

Arnolfo di Cambio incorporated the ancient tower (then known as La Vacca or “The Cow”) of the Foraboschi family into the new tower’s facade as its substructure (this is why the tower is not directly centered in the building). The tower currently has three bells, the oldest cast in the 13th century.

The view of Florence from the top of Torre d’Arnolfo

During our visit, we climbed the 418 steps to the top of the tower where we had 360 degree views of the city. We entered via the museum. On our way up, we passed the “Little Hotel,” two small cells that, at different times, imprisoned Cosimo de’ Medici (the Elder) (1435) and Girolamo Savonarola (1498).

No more than 35 people can enter at once and, on busy days, you’ll be limited to 30 minutes. In bad weather, it’s closed.

The Vasari corridor, an above-ground walkway commissioned to Giorgio Vasari by Cosimo I, was built from the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi (where Cosimo I moved the seat of government), over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti.

Check out “Palazzo Pitti – Vasari Corridor”

The Vasari Corridor

A notable ornamental marble frontispiece, above the front entrance door, dates from 1528. The Monogram of Christ, in the middle, is flanked by two gilded lions. The text (in Latin) above, dating from 1851 (it does not replace an earlier text by Savonarola as mentioned in guidebooks), reads Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium (“King of Kings and Lord of Lords”).

The ornamental marble frontispiece above the entrance door

Between 1529 and 1851, this text was concealed behind a large shield with the grand-ducal coat of arms.

The first courtyard

The first courtyard, designed in 1453 by Michelozzo, has harmoniously proportioned columns which, at one time, were smooth and untouched, were at the same time richly decorated with gilt stuccoes. High around the courtyard are lunettes with crests of the church and city guilds while frescoes on the walls are vedutes, some damaged over the course of time, of the cities (Graz, Innsbruck, Linz, Vienna, Hall in Tirol, Freiburg im Breisgau, Konstanz, etc.) of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. The barrel vaults are furnished with grotesque decorations.

Barrel vaults, with grotesque decorations, at the first courtyard

In the center of the courtyard is a porphyry fountain by Battista del Tadda. On top of the fountain’s basin is the Putto with Dolphin, a copy of the original small statue by Andrea del Verrocchio (1476), originally placed in the garden of the Villa Medici at Careggi but now on display on the second floor of the palace. Flowing through the nose of the dolphin is water brought here by pipes from the Boboli Gardens. In front of the fountain is a niche with Samson and Philistine by Pierino da Vinci.

Check out “Palazzo Pitti – Boboli Gardens”

The massive pillars, in the second courtyard (also called Dogana or “Customs Courtyard”), were built in 1494 by Cronaca to sustain the great, most imposing 52 m. (170 ft.) long and 23 m. (75 ft.) wide “Salone dei Cinquecento” on the second floor.

Grace (center) and Jandy (right) at the first courtyard

The massive and monumental stairs by Giorgio Vasari, between the first and second courtyard, lead up to the Hall of the Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento). The third courtyard was used mainly for offices of the city.

Check out “Palazzo Vecchio – Hall of the Five Hundred”

The author at the Hall of the Five Hundred

The Studiolo of Francesco I (a studiolo is a small study), a small side room, without windows, situated at the end of the hall, was also designed by Giorgio Vasari (1570–1575) in a Mannerist style. Paintings, stucco and sculptures fill the walls and the barrel vault and Baroque paintings hide secret cupboards. Most paintings, representing the four elements (water, fire, earth and air), are by the School of Vasari. The portrait of Cosimo I and his wife Eleonora of Toledo was made by Bronzino while the delicate bronze sculptures were made by Bartolomeo Ammanati and Giambologna. The latter, dismantled within decades of its construction, were re-assembled in the 20th century.

Check out “Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of the Priors” and Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of Leo X”

Normally, the Quartieri monumentali (Residence of the Priors and the Quarters of Leo X), the other rooms on the first floor, are not accessible to the public as they are used by the mayor as offices and reception rooms but, probably it was past office hours, it was opened during our visit. A staircase, designed by Giorgio Vasari, led us to the second floor where we visited the Chapel of Signoria, the Hall of Justice (Sala delle Udienze), the Room of the Lilies (Sala dei Gigli), the Study Room and the Apartments of the Elements (Sala degli Elementi).

Check out “Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of the Elements,” and “Palazzo Vecchio – Apartments of Eleonora”

Palazzo Vecchio: Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy. Tel: +39 055 276 8325. Open daily, 9 AM – 7 PM (except Thursdays, 9 AM – 2 PM). Admission: €6.00. Combined ticket with Cappella Brancacci: €8.00

Orsanmichele Church (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 27 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Orsanmichele Church

The square Orsanmichele Church was constructed on the site of the now gone kitchen garden of the Benedictine monastery of San Michele (from the contraction of “Kitchen Garden of St. Michael” in Tuscan dialect of the Italian word orto.

It was originally built in 1337 as a grain market (chutes for the wheat are still to be seen inside the piers) by architects Simone di Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante and Benci di Cione and finished in 1349. Between 1380 and 1404, the loggia was closed in and designed (by Francesco Talenti) and converted into a chapel of Florence’s powerful craft and trade guilds.

Incredulity of St. Thomas (Andrea del Verrocchio)

St. George (Donatello)

The lower level façade was embellished with 14 architecturally designed external niches (originally 13th-century arches that originally formed the loggia of the grain market) which were filled, from 1399 to around 1430, with statues of the guild’s patron saints. The statues of the three richest guilds were made in more costly bronze (approximately ten times the amount of the stone figures).

St. John the Baptist (Lorenzo Ghiberti)

St. Luke (Giambologna)

The tabernacles around the outside, from the foremost Florentine Renaissance artists of the 15th (Nanni di Banco, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, Donatello) and 16th century (Giambologna), were assigned to the principal guilds (Arti Maggiori), the medium guilds (Mediane) and to the guild of the Armorers and Swordmakers.

St. Matthew (Lorenzo Ghiberti)

Those guilds which did not have the privilege of an external tabernacle had their patron saint depicted in fresco or on panel inside the building. The most important tabernacle, in the center of the façade, facing Via de’ Calzaioli, was assigned first to the Parte Guelfa and then to the Tribunal of the Mercatanzia. The tabernacles are:

St. Peter by Donatello
St. Philip by Nanni di Banco
Four Crowned Saints group by Nanni di Banco
St. George (1417) by Donatello
St. Matthew by Lorenzo Ghiberti
St. Stephan by Lorenzo Ghiberti
St. Eligius by Nanni di Banco
St. Mark by Donatello
St. Jacob by Niccolò di Piero Lamberti (?)
Madonna della Rosa by Govanni di Piero Tedesco (?)
John the Evangelist by Baccio da Montelupo
St. Luke by Gianbologna
Incredulity of St. Thomas (1467-83) by Andrea del Verrocchio, replacing Louis of Toulouse (1433) by Donatello
St. John the Baptist by Lorenzo Ghiberti

The sculptures seen today are modern duplicates. To protect them from the elements and vandalism, many of the original sculptures have been removed to the museum of Orsanmichele at the upper floor of the church. Statues of St. George (and its niche) and St. Louis of Toulouse, both works by Donatello, are in the Bargello Museum (moved in 1892) and in the Museum of Santa Croce of the Basilica di Santa Croce respectively.

Frescoes of saints on the pillars by Jacopo dal Casentino

The façade also has elegant mullioned windows, in the Late Gothic style, and stained glass by Niccolò di Pietro Gerini showing Scenes and miracles of the Virgin (1395-1405).

The Late Gothic interior

The almost intact but atmospherically gloomy Late Gothic interior, with its square layout and piers (their positioning recalls the arrangement of the original open loggia) features the monumental marble altar, with Virtues and scenes from the life of the Virgin in relief, not in the center but to the right.

Fresco painting on ceiling by Jacopo dal Casentino

The bejeweled Gothic tabernacle encases a repainting, by Bernardo Daddi, of an older icon of the Madonna and Child (1346), known as the Madonna delle Grazie. It was commissioned in 1355, a year after the terrible plague, from Andrea Orcagna (Andrea di Cione), but not finished until 1359.

The Gothic tabernacle

To the left of the nave is the votive altar of St. Anne, built in 1379 by order of the Signoria, with a marble group of St. Anne, the Virgin and Child by Francesco da Sangallo (c. 1526). On the walls there are patchy traces of frescoes that depict the patron saints of the various guilds.

Altar of St. Anne

Orsanmichele Church: Via dell’Arte della Lana, corner with Via Calzaiouli 50122 Florence, Italy. Tel: +39 055 23885. Admission: free. The Museum of the Orsanmichele (Museo di Orsanmichele), reached by the bridge from the adjacent Palazzo dell’Arte della Lana, is open every Monday.

Uffizi Gallery – Great Niobe Room (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 27 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Great Niobe Room

Among the rich collection of sculptures of the Uffizi Gallery, there is one room dedicated to a group of related sculptures – the Great Niobe’s Room (Sala della Niobe). One of the most fascinating rooms in the Gallery, this room houses a group of 12 ancient Neo-Classical marble sculptures (called the Uffizi Niobid group), Roman copies from an original Hellenistic work dating to the 2nd to 3rd century BC.

Statue of Niobe and her Youngest Daughter

In Greek mythology, Niobe, born of the royal house of Phrygia, the arrogant daughter of Tantalus and wife of Amphion (the founder and ruler of Thebes), had 14 children (7 girls and 7 boys). She was so proud of her own offspring so much so that in the temple, Niobe demands the worshipers of the goddess Leto to worship her instead: “Why do you worship her, not me? My father is Tantalus, my mother is a goddess, my husband establishes and rules this city Thebes, and I have seven sons and seven daughters whereas Latona has only two children….” Manto, the seeress daughter of Tiresias, overheard Niobe’s remark and bid the Theban women placate Leto, in vain.

In his Iliad, Homer wrote about her arrogance and pride. Leto, in a bid to punish Niobe’s pride, sent her two children, Apollo and Artemis , to kill Niobe’s children. With bows and poisonous arrows, Artemis aimed to kill the females while Apollo was charged to kill the males. According to some versions, Artemis and Apollo killed them all while, according to others, Meliboea (Chloris) and Amyclas, managed to escape.

According to the Latin poet Ovid in his “Metamorphoses,” that extreme terror drove Amphion to suicide and turned Niobe into a marble block. Her tears of pain gave life to a source, on Mt. Sipylus in Lydia (Mansia, Turkey).

The clear educational purpose of the myth (warning against damages of pride) made it subject of many artistic and literary representations. The power of this ancient myth does not diminish through time and Niobe’s tragic story has inspired many artistic and literary representations through the periods such as the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, and by Dutch painters.

Henry IV’s Triumphal Entry into Paris (Peter Paul Rubens)

In 1583, a series of 12 famous surviving Greek sculptures, by anonymous sculptors, was found in the Vigna Tomasini vineyard, near Porta San Giovanni. Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici (the future Grand Duke of Tuscany) immediately bought these for his Roman villa.

“Dying Niobid” (or “”Lying Niobid”) is a marble statue of a recumbent male Niobid lying on a cloak (1st century AD, after a model of the 2nd half of the 4th century BC., Pentelic marble). Height 47.5 cm., width 45.5 cm., length (with restored parts) 177 cm.

Around 1770, the sculptures were brought to Florence and, in 1775, were brought to the Uffizi Gallery. From 1779 – 1780, at the peak of Neo-Classical period (when an important air of artistic renewal was breathed in Florence), Grand Duke Pietro Leopold of Lorraine commissioned the architect Gasparre Maria Paoletti to set up the specially built, 29 by 9 m., 260 sq. m. exhibition room where they are still displayed.

Statue of Eldest Daughter of Niobe

Running Niobid

On May 27, 1993, the room was hit really hard (its frescoes were damaged beyond repair) by a terrible car bomb explosion in Via dei Georgofili initiated by the Sicilian Mafia that targeted the Uffizi Gallery (5 people died, 60 were wounded, 5 minor works were destroyed and 30 others damaged).

The Rape of Proserpina (Giuseppe Grisoni)

In May 2012, the room was closed because the weight of its 17 marble statues was found to have sunk the floor. The complex and important restoration work, costing an approximately €500,000, involved consolidating the arches of the ceiling and removing the moving parts of the paved floor piece by piece, before reinforcing it. It reopened on February 2013.

The Rape of Proserpina (Giuseppe Grisoni)

Today, the 12 statues are lined up along the walls, spaced apart to allow visitors to admire them in isolation, sacrificing part of the relationships between the various works, as well as the a coffered ceiling covered with gold leaves, the beautiful gilded stucco and light marbles of the floor that highlight the strong natural light which enter through the large windows that overlook Via Lambertesca.

Elder Niobid Male

The sculptures, presenting the divine power over human’s arrogance and egoism, represent young characters lying, kneeling, fleeing, pleading to the sky or shot dead in dramatic and theatrical way as they show their great pain and terror at the moment before their tragic death. The focus of the group is Niobe, who tries to protect her youngest daughter, and directs her terrified and pleading gaze skyward.

Henry IV Triumphal Entry into Paris (Peter Paul Rubens) and The Senators of Florence swearing Allegiance to Ferdinando II de’Medici (Justus Sustermans)

The Niobid statuary was flanked by a group of monumental paintings – Henry IV in the Battle of Ivry and Henry IV’s Triumphal Entry into Paris, both by Peter Paul Rubens; The Senators of Florence swearing Allegiance to Ferdinando II de’Medici (Justus Sustermans) and The Rape of Proserpina (Giuseppe Grisoni).

Second Niobid Climbing a Rock

Younger Niobid Male

Damaged in the 1993 Mafia bombing, the Rubens canvases had been restored and rehung. The Suttermans canvas was restored in 2001 and the Gisoni canvas in 2004.

Kneeled Niobid

Niobid Teacher

Great Niobe Room: Room 42, Second Floor, Uffizi Gallery: Piazzale degli Uffizi (adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria), Florence, Italy. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:15 AM to 6:50 PM. Closed on Mondays, December 25 and January 1. Website: www.uffizi.it. Regular admission: €20. Reduced Price Ticket: €2 for European Union citizens only, aged +18 | -26 upon showing passport or ID, and citizens of non-EU Countries only upon mutual agreement (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein). The ticket office closes at 5.30 PM and closing operations start at 6.20 PM.

Free admission for children under 18 years of any nationality (show passport or ID card, children younger than 12 must be accompanied by adults); persons with disabilities (if handicap is certified under Law 104/92, D.M. 507/97 and D.M. 13/2019); scholars; university students and teachers; student groups and teachers; tour guides and interpreters; journalists (enrolled in the Italian Association of Journalists); employees of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism; and members of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

Taking photographs and videos is permitted provided they are taken without flash, lights and tripods, for personal, non-profit use only. The museum’s busiest times are weekends, Tuesdays and mornings. Doubtless, the best part of the day to visit the museum is in the afternoon; better after 4 PM once large groups have left the museum. Long lines are inevitable so, despite the slightly higher cost of entrance (extra booking fees), it is better to buy your Uffizi tickets ahead of time to skip the long line and spend more time in the museum.

How to Get There: bus service from Santa Maria Novella Station, bus 23.

Uffizi Gallery – The Tribuna (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 27 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

The Tribuna (Tribune)

The essential highlight of our Grand Tour of the Uffizi Gallery is the Tribuna (Tribune), an octagonal room where the most important antiquities and High Renaissance and Bolognese paintings from the Medici collection were displayed in the 18th century and are still are displayed here. Many years before the Uffizi building was officially transformed into a Gallery, the Tribuna was, in a sense, already a “museum.”

To keep the most precious artworks of the Medici collection as well as his jewels and embellishments, Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici (son of Cosimo I de’ Medici) asked his friend and collaborator, the architect Bernardo Buontalenti to design the Tribuna which was realized between 1581 and 1583, making it the most ancient room of the Uffizi Gallery. At that time, the ground floor was still occupied by the Florentine magistrates. In 1737, the Grand Duchess Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici ceded the collection to the Tuscan government and, by the 1770s, the Uffizi (and in particular the Tribuna) was the hub for Grand Tourists visiting Florence.

The most important room at the first floor and the first nucleus of the Uffizi Gallery, it is probably the only room that, from the 16th century, has been rearranged more frequently, with artwork relocated to other museums or replaced so that the paintings and sculptures had more space. Changes were made in 1970 and, in 2012, the restoration of the room was finished.

In 1772, Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom commissioned Johann Zoffany‘s famous painting of the Tribuna. It portrayed the northeast section but varies the arrangement and brings in works not normally displayed in the room, such as Raphael’s Madonna della Sedia. Connoisseurs, diplomats and visitors to Florence, all identifiable, are seen admiring the works of art.

Arrotino

The Tribuna displayed, according to the concept of a museum in that period, not just works of art (such as sculptures and paintings) but also extraordinary natural items such as precious stones, coins, etc., making it a cabinet of curios containing a condensate of knowledge. The structure was octagonal because, according to Christian tradition, eight is the number which draws near Heaven. In ancient times, octagonal plans were recurrent in the construction of important buildings as well as of baptisteries and basilicas, making the Tribuna a kind of profane temple dedicated to art.

The Dancing Faun

The incredible dome, which symbolizes the Vault of Heaven, has an external lantern with a weather vane (its movements internally reproduced on a painted wind rose) which also works as a sundial. During both equinoxes and solstices, the Sun passing through a hole displays the celestial mechanics also to “those who are inexperienced with planets and the motion of heavenly bodies.”

The Two Wrestlers

The iconography of the Tribune’s decorations and furniture was conceived by Francesco I (who dabbled in alchemy) as a full cosmos featuring the four elements:

Earth – represented by the floor, Architect Buontalenti realized it as a wide flower inlaid with polychrome marbles (alabaster from Northern Africa, green porphyry from Turkey, red porphyry from Egypt). Jacopo Ligozzi painted also plants and animals at the base of the walls, along the room’s perimeter.
Water – represented on the dome encrusted by 5,780 precious mother-of-pearls coming from the Indian Ocean and masterly set on a background painted with a scarlet varnish achieved, as it was usual in ancient times, by using millions of red cochineals. The shells on the vault refer to the emblem of Bianca Cappello, the woman that the Grand Duke loved for a long time, and that he married in the same period in which the Tribuna was built. The 130 sq. m. of ceiling was then covered, under the varnish, with layers of gold. The frescoed plinth is now lost.
Fire – represented by the precious red velvet on the high walls provided with gold fringes.
Air – symbolized by the towering lantern open to winds.

The Octagonal Table in the center

At the center of the room is an octagonal table, set with semiprecious stones by Jacopo Ligozzi. The room itself, apart from the paintings, furniture and statues, can be considered a work of art. Among the series of ancient sculptures, which arrived from the Villa Medici in Rome in the 17th century, is the delicate, Ist century A.D. Venere Medici (Medici Venus).

The Medici Venus

No one can enter the Tribuna as the marble mosaic of the pavement cannot sustain the weight of so many visitors. The most important paintings are now in another room that aspires to reproduce the set-up of the octagonal room. The paintings on the walls can be admired at a distance. Still, admiring the Tribuna is, no doubt, a breathtaking experience. The high walls, which terminate with a double drum and a lantern, as well as the windows, ensure that the Tribuna has a natural enlightenment similar to modern museums. The prevalent colors are the same as those in the emblem of the Medici.

Ceiling and wall detail

In the last few years, this room was at the core of the Digital Museum project with a multimedia installation letting visitors observe a 3D version of the sculptures in the Tribune, so they can admire their details and the marvelous project of this room.

Floor pattern detail

Tribuna: First Floor, Uffizi Gallery: Piazzale degli Uffizi (adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria), Florence, Italy. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:15 AM to 6:50 PM. Closed on Mondays, December 25 and January 1. Website: www.uffizi.it. Regular admission: €20. Reduced Price Ticket: €2 for European Union citizens only, aged +18 | -26 upon showing passport or ID, and citizens of non-EU Countries only upon mutual agreement (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein). The ticket office closes at 5.30 PM and closing operations start at 6.20 PM.

How to Get There: bus service from Santa Maria Novella Station, bus 23.

Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 27 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Uffizi Gallery

The Uffizi Gallery (Italian: Galleria degli Uffizi), one of the most popular tourist attractions of Florence, was on our list of must see places upon our arrival in Florence. In high season, particularly in July, waiting times can be up to five hours so we bought our tickets online prior to our departure for Italy.

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the museum:

With around 2 million visitors annually, it is ranked as the 25th on the most visited art museums in the world. Serious art lovers should visit the Uffizi at least twice to see all of it.
This building was never created to be a museum nor intended to welcome up to an average of 10,000 people a day. It was designed to bring, under one roof, the administrative offices (the name uffizi means “offices” in Italian) of the Florentine magistrates such as the Tribunal, the Archivio di Stato (state archive), judiciary offices, the seats of the Florentine Guilds and a vast theater. At first, the halls of the top floor, where the art-fond family started to place the many pieces of their personal private collections (manuscripts, gems, coins, cameos, etc.) were only accessible to the Grand Ducal family, servants and only a few select guests. However, guests were welcomed on to admire the grandiose collection of Roman sculptures the Medici loved to collect.
According to Giorgio Vasari, architect of the Uffizi and the author of Lives of the Artists (published in 1550 and 1568), artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were said to have gathered at the Uffizi “for beauty, for work and for recreation.”

The construction of this grandiose, U-shaped Renaissance building, right next to Palazzo Vecchio, was begun by painter, art historian and architect Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and was later continued by Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti and completed in 1581.

Check out “Palazzo Vecchio“

Statue of Cosimo de Medici

The long and narrow cortile (internal courtyard) is open to the Arno River, at its far end, through a Doric screen that articulates the space without blocking it (architectural historians treat it as the first regularized streetscape of Europe).

Its perspective length was emphasized by Vasari by the continuous roof cornices of the matching facades, unbroken cornices between storeys and the three continuous steps on which the palace-fronts stand. The niches, in the piers, alternate with columns filled with sculptures of famous artists in the XIX century.

The Uffizi was also planned to display, on the piano nobile, prime art works of the Medici collections. The plan was carried out by Grand Duke Francesco I, Cosimo’s son, who commissioned architect Bernardo Buontalenti to design the octagonal-shaped Tribuna degli Uffizi, the first private room dedicated to items that were “any kind of wonder” (favorite works of art, jewels, etc.) which they through were interesting objects. A highly influential attraction of a Grand Tour and considered the most ancient and precious heart of the Uffizi, the Tribuna collected a series of masterpieces in one room.

Check out “Uffizi Gallery – The Tribuna”

The Tribuna (Tribune)

Over the years, more sections of the palace were recruited to exhibit paintings and sculpture collected or commissioned by the Medici.

After the House of Medici was extinguished, Anna Maria Luisa, the last Medici heiress, negotiated terms of the famous Patto di famiglia, allowing the art treasures to remain in Florence. One of the first modern museums, the gallery had been open, since the sixteenth century, to visitors by request and, in 1769, the Uffizi Gallery and its treasures were officially opened by Leopold of the Lorraine to the public.

Because of its huge collection, some of its works have in the past been transferred to other museums in Florence. For example, some its famous statues were transferred to the Bargello.

Check out “Bargello Museum”

In 2006, the museum’s exhibition space was expanded, from some 6,000 sq. m. (64,000 sq. ft.), to almost 13,000 sq. m. (139,000 sq. ft.), allowing public viewing of many artworks that have previously been in storage.

On May 27, 1993, a car bomb exploded in Via dei Georgofili, damaging parts of the palace and killing five people. The Niobe room, classical sculptures and Neo-Classical interior were most severely damaged but have been restored.

However, its frescoes were damaged beyond repair. The identity of the bomber or bombers are unknown. However, it was almost certainly attributable to the Sicilian Mafia as they were engaged in a period of terrorism at that time.

Check out “Uffizi Gallery – Great Niobe Room”

Great Niobe Room

In early August 2007, Florence and the Gallery was partially flooded during a large rainstorm, with water leaking through the ceiling. Visitors had to be evacuated. In 1966, a much more significant flood damaged most of the art collections in Florence severely, including the Uffizi.

To enter the building, we had to get through lines and the metal detector. Upon entering, we queued, under the eyes of the bust of Peter Leopold by Francesco Carradori, while waiting to have our ticket checked.

Lorraine Antiricetto. With a nich is the second century AD statue of Apollo restored by sculptor and architect Giovan Battista Pieratti in the first half of the 17th century. On the left is a pillar with bas-reliefs that tell the story of military victories. In the foreground is a the sarcophagus used for Hippolytus of Rome, a very important theologian of the ancient Christian Church. On its right is a second century AD statue of a dog.

We then took two flights of Renaissance-era stairs. At the top of the main stairway is the so-called Lorraine Antiricetto, the first vestibule that leads directly onto the first corridor, which displays the busts of the Medici-Lorraines (Lorenzo the Magnificent, Ferdinand II of Lorraine, Leopold II, etc.) responsible for the wealth of art works.

The busts of the Grand Dukes. Above the bust is the coat-of-arms of Alessandro de ‘Medici (attributed to Baccio d’Agnolo)

The busts, placed on wooden stands, each bears a shield on which golden letters show a brief elegy in Latin commemorating what each individual did for the Gallery. Also on display are statues within niches, old bas-reliefs, busts of deities, sarcophagi, urns of good design and sculpture.

then took two flights of Renaissance-era stairs before arriving at the actual entrance to the museum. Upon entry, we were welcomed by stunning frescoed ceilings and the start of its collections.

The museum is organized as a long labyrinth of rooms with amazing works of art displayed roughly in chronological order. To really enjoy these masterpieces, the newly renovated and reopened halls now have a double ceiling with more soft, better lighting.

Rucellai Madonna (Duccio di Boninsegna, 1285, tempera on wood). Here, the Virgin sits on a marvelous inlaid throne and her face, still enigmatic like that of a Byzantine icon, is softened by the hint of a smile. The heavy decoration, typical of Sienese painting of the time, is visible in the golden border of Holy Mary’s garments.

Sala 2 (Giotto and the 13th Century), the first hall, was like the inside of an ancient church, with low lighting (reminding us about candle lights). It features a trio of giant Maestà altarpieces (tempera on wood panels) of Gothic painters – Madonna in Majesty (1285-86, 385 x 223 cm.) by Cimabue (considered the last Italian artist to be influenced by Byzantine art), Madonna di Ognissanti (ca. 1310) by Giotto (the true originator of modern painting) and Rucellai Madonna (1285) by Duccio di Boninsegna (the most important representative of the Sienese school of painting that focused on the importance of color and decoration over drawing).

Madonna in Majesty (Cimabue, 1290-1300, tempera on wood)

Sala 3 (The Gothic Sienese School) pays homage to the 14th-century Sienese school with several delicately crafted works by Simone Martini (Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus, 1333) and the Lorenzetti brothers (Pietro and Ambrogio). Of the brothers’ work here, Ambrogio Lorenzetti ‘s Presentation at the Temple (1342) is the finest.

The Coronation of the Virgin (Angelico Fra, 1434)

Sala 4–6 (International Gothic), introducing us to the refined style of painting known as “international or flamboyant Gothic” (developed during the late XIV and the beginning of the XV century), houses the works of the 14th-century Florentine school – Fra Angelico, Jacopo Bellini, Lorenzo Monaco (Coronation of the Virgin, 1413), and Gentile da Fabriano (Adoration of the Magi, 1423). Here, you can clearly see the influence Giotto had on his contemporaries like Bernardo Daddi and Orcagna.

Adoration of the Magi, a masterpiece by Gentile da Fabriano (1423, tempera on wood), with its carved and gilded frame, was commissioned by Palla Strozzi (the richest citizen of Florence according to the census of 1427). A veritable example of the courteous aesthetics and its dreamy flavor, here silver and gold decorations, splendid details, plushy fabrics and gentle figures catch the eye.

At Sala 7 (Cue the Renaissance) the Renaissance proper starts taking shape, driven primarily by the quest of two artists, Paolo Uccello (The Battle of San Romano, 1456) and Masaccio (Madonna and Child with St. Anne, 1424), for perfect perspective.

The Battle of San Romano (Paolo Uccello)

In the center of the room is the unmistakable Diptych of Duke Federico da Montefeltro (ca. 1465 or 1470) by Piero della Francesca, one of the most impressive portraits of the Renaissance.

Madonna and Child Enthroned (Filippino Lippi, 1495-96, tempera on wood)

Sala 8 is devoted to Carmelite monk Fra’ Filippo Lippi (one of the protagonists of the early Renaissance) works such as the Madonna and Child (1455–66, his most famous painting), Coronation of the Virgin, Allegory, Barbadori Altarpiece, etc.). Also here are a few works by Filippino Lippi, Filippo Lippi’s illegitimate son.

Adoration of the Magi (Filippino Lippi, 1496, tempera on wood)

Sala 9 is an interlude of virtuoso paintings by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, plus a number of large Virtues by Piero del Pollaiolo, his less-talented brother, both masters of anatomical verisimilitude greatly influenced the young Botticelli, three of whose early works reside in the room.

Primavera (Sandro Botticelli)

Sala 10-14 (Botticelli Room), the largest hall of the museum, houses the most stunning and breathtaking paintings by Sandro Botticelli such as the Adoration of the Magi of 1475, Primavera, the large panel of the Allegory of Spring and the canvas of The Birth of Venus.

The Birth of Venus (Sandro Botticelli, 1484-85)

However, since spring 2015, the Botticelli Room was getting its first restoration in decades so, during our visit, these iconic paintings were temporarily displayed in Room 41, about halfway down the second floor’s Second Corridor.

Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder (Sandro Botticelli, ca. 1474)

Remaining there until early 2016, these works will be moved back and Room 41 is given over to Flemish and other northern Renaissance works.

Madonna and Child with Saints (Sandro Boticelli)

Sala 15 (The High Renaissance & Leonardo da Vinci) boasts Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished Adoration of the Magi (1481), the Baptism of Christ (ca.1470-1475) and the beautiful Annunciation (ca. 1472).

Agony in the Garden (Pietro Perugino)

In addition to the works of da Vinci, there are also important works by other famous maestros active during the late 15th and early 16th century such as Pietro Perugino (Pietà, ca.1493-1494), Luca Signorelli, .Lorenzo di Credi (Adoration of the Shepherds) and Piero di Cosimo.

Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene (Luca Signorelli, 1502-05, oil on canvas)

Room 18 (The Tribune) – a small octagonal room (called the Tribuna) designed by Bernardo Buontalenti in 1584 with a pietra dura (stone inlay) floor, mother-of-pearl ceiling dome, and blood red walls covered with High Renaissance and Mannerist paintings.

Ceiling frescoes of one of the salette rooms

Past the Tribune are Sala 19–23 (The Quattrocento beyond Florence), a string of small, narrow rooms (called the salette, in Italian) with lovely but “grotesque” frescoed ceilings (by Lodovico Buti, dating back to 1588), that were reopened in April 2014 after an extensive renovation.

Another ceiling of a salette room

In the middle of the 17th century, the ceilings of the first two rooms were completely redone but the other 3 still contain their original designs which include scenes of battles and other armory-related scenes.

Self Portrait (Albrecht Durer, 1496, oil on panel)

From the end of the 16th century up until 1775, these rooms part of the most ancient section of the Gallery, housed the Medici Armory. The armory was then, in part, moved to the Fortezza da Basso.

Self Portrait (Rubens, oil on panel)

Sold in 1780, Pietro Leopoldo added the rooms to the museum and, only then, did the rooms host paintings by Flemish artists such as Rubens and Rembrandt, designs by Raffaello and prints by Dürer.

Portrait of Pope Julius II (Rafaello, 1443)

These rooms are now a repository for 44 (12 of which are paintings that have been chosen from the large deposit of works owned by the Uffizi Gallery but which were not on display before) of the Uffizi’s greatest paintings by early Renaissance artists working outside of Florence in the 15th century (an era called, in Italian, Il Quattrocento).

Sala 19 displays works by Sienese artists including two large altarpieces of the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, one by Il Vecchietta (the beautiful Madonna in Throne with Saints) and the other by Giovanni di Paolo, as well as works by Matteo di Giovanni and Sano di Pietro.

Madonna and Child Enthroned With Saints (Il Vechietta)

Sala 20 features the greatest artists and works of the Northern Italian Quattrocento masters (Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina).

Sacred Allegory (Giovanni Bellini, 1490-99,oil on panel)

They include Andrea Mantegna’s Portrait of Carlo de’ Medici, the beautiful Madonna of the Caves (set on a light green background panel) and his triptych Stories from the Life of Christ: Adoration of the Magi, Circumcision, and Ascension (1463–70).

Sacred Allegory (Giovanni Bellini, 1490-99,oil on panel)

Also on display here is Giovanni Bellini‘s Portrait of a Gentleman in his Red Cap and his Sacred Allegory; and a pair of rare works by Antonella da Messina, an early Renaissance master from Sicily.

Sala 20 features the greatest artists and works of the Northern Italian Quattrocento masters. They include Andrea Mantegna’s Portrait of Carlo de’ Medici and his triptych Scenes from the Life of Christ: Adoration of the Magi, Circumcision, and Ascension (1463–70).

Scenes From the Life of Christ (Andrea Mantegna, 1463-64, tempera on panel)

Also on display here is Giovanni Bellini‘s Portrait of a Gentleman in his Red Cap and his Alegoria Sacra; and a pair of rare works by Antonella da Messina, an early Renaissance master from Sicily,.

Sala 21 (The Quattrocento of the Veneto ) features works by Vittore Carpaccio, Cima da Conegliano, etc..

Some of the ceiling decorations in Sala 21 was destroyed in 1944 during the bombing of the streets and bridges along the Arno river by the Germans. In memory of this event, a new mural painting, based on a design by Vittorio Granchi, was made in this spot representing the area after its destruction, with the date “August 1944.”

Madonna and Child (Cima da Conegliano, ca. 1504, tempera on panel)

Sala 22 (Quattrocento of Emilia-Romagna) features the works of Lorenzo Costa, Cosmè Tura, etc. and Sala 23 (Quattrocento of Lombardy) the works of Vincenzo Foppa, Bernardino Luini, etc.

The Doni Tondo (Michaelangelo, 1506-08, tempera on wood)

The fairly new Sala 35, opened in January 2013, charts the course of art from the period called “High Renaissance” until its final evolution called “Mannerism,” the artistic movement inspired by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Job (Franciabigio, early 16th century)

It displays the Doni Tondo (or the Holy Family with the Infant and St. John the Baptist, ca. 1506-1508) of Michelangelo, the only painting by the great artist remaining in Florence, and certainly the only one that is attributed with certainty to the artist that can be moved (not painted directly on a wall).

Salome (Alonso Berruguette, ca. 1512-16) (1)

Vision of St. Bernard (Fra Bartolommeo)

The new hall also contains works by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Francesco Granacci, Fra Bartolomeo and Alonso Berruguete, to name just a few.

Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Job (Franciabigio, early 16th century)

Joseph Led to Prison (Francesco Granacci, 1515)

In the center of the room is the Sleeping Arianne, a Roman sculpture dating back to the second century A.C.

Sleeping Ariadne

Sala 66 houses Raphael’s portraits and The Annunciation (1475-80), Leonardo da Vinci ‘s one and only completed panel painting.

Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals (Raphael)

The beautiful, long Sala 83 displays 10 works by the great portraitist Titian (also well known by his Italian name, Tiziano), the leading figure of the Venetian school.

Flora by Titian (ca. 1515-17, oil on canvas) is a sensual image greatly admired long before it arrived in the Uffizi’s collection in 1793 (after an exchange with the Imperial Gallery of Vienna). The beautiful woman, appearing as the Goddess of Fecundity, is also a portrait of a future wife, with similar symbols employed in his more famous Venus of Urbino.

They include Flora,Venus of Urbino, Madonna of the Roses, Portrait of a Knight of Malta, Portrait of Francesco Maria della, Portrait of Pope Sixtus IV, Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere, etc.)

The famous Venus of Urbino, by Titian (1538, oil on canvas), is a masterpiece of sophistication and sensuality

Sala 90 includes 3 masterpieces by Michelangelo Merisi (more widely known as Caravaggio). According to lore, the Shield with the Head of Medusa says that the face is actually a self-portrait of when the artist was younger.

Sacrifice of Isaac (Caravaggio)

The very famous Bacchus Holding his Goblet of Wine has extraordinarily detailed particulars that make the setting come to life. The Sacrifice of Isaac reveals elements the artist used often as a young painter.

Medusa (Carravaggio, 1597, oil on canvas covered panel)

Other famous works from the painting collection include:

The author with the Madonna of the Goldfinch (Raphael, 1505-06, tempera on wood) in the background

Though the Uffizi Gallery is known worldwide for its famous paintings, it was once called the “Gallery of statues” since the first collection displayed consisted mainly in ancient Roman and Greek statues.

Doryphoros torso

Some of the famous statues of the Medici’s later collections that we can admire today are the wonderful Venus, in the Tribuna, and the so-called Niobe group for which a room of its own was created.

Hercules and Nessus

Moreover, many are the alternating statues and busts displayed all along the wide corridors which outline the u-shaped second floor of the museum. They include:

Amor and Psyche
Apollino‎
Arrotino (The Tribune)
Britannicus in Toga
Crouching Venus
Dancing satyr from the group «Invitation to the dance
Il Pocellino
Medici Venus (The Tribune)
Niobids (The Tribune)
Spinario
Torso Gaddi
Uffizi wrestlers‎ (The Tribune)

Apollo Playing the Cithara

Along the corridors are wide windows where we had great views of the San Miniato Church, the Bardini Gardens and the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River.

View of the Arno River from the Uffizi Gallery

Uffizi Gallery: Piazzale degli Uffizi (adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria), Florence, Italy. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:15 AM to 6:50 PM. Closed on Mondays, December 25 and January 1. Website: www.uffizi.it. Regular admission: €20. Reduced Price Ticket: €2 for European Union citizens only, aged +18 | -26 upon showing passport or ID, and citizens of non-EU Countries only upon mutual agreement (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein). The ticket office closes at 5.30 PM and closing operations start at 6.20 PM.

How to Get There: bus service from Santa Maria Novella Station, bus 23.

Borghese Gallery (Rome, Italy)

Posted on 26 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Borghese Gallery (Galleria Borghese)

The Galleria Borghese (English: Borghese Gallery), an art gallery housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana, houses the largest collection of private art in the world – a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621), an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio.

Museum lobby

Borghese used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa at the edge of Rome. The collection was originally housed in the cardinal’s residence near St Peter’s but, in the 1620s, he had it transferred to the Casino Borghese, the central building of his new villa just outside Porta Pinciana. Here are some historical trivia regarding the villa:

The villa was built between 1613 and 1614 by the architectFlaminio Ponzio and Vasanzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself.
About 1775, Prince PrinceMarcantonio IV Borghese added much of the lavish Neo-Classical décor. Under the guidance of the architect Antonio Asprucci, the now-outdated tapestry and leather hangings were replaced, the Casina was renovated and the Borghese sculptures and antiquities were restaged in a thematic new ordering that celebrated the Borghese position in Rome.
In 1808, PrinceCamillo Borghese, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, was forced to sell the Borghese Roman sculptures and antiquities to the Emperor.
In 1902, the entire Borghese estate and surrounding gardens and parkland were eventually sold to the Italian government.
The late 18th century rehabilitation of the much-visited villa as a genuinely public museum was the subject of an 2000 exhibition at theGetty Research Institute, Los Angeles, spurred by the Getty’s acquisition of 54 drawings related to the project.

The important collection of paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian, as well as some sensational sculptures by Bernini and Canova are arranged around 20 decorated rooms over two floors.

Trompe l’oeil ceiling fresco by the Sicilian artist Mariano Rossi

The ground floor gallery is mainly dedicated to Classical antiquities of the 1st–3rd centuries AD, Classical and Neo-Classical sculpture, intricate Roman floor mosaics (including a famous 320–30 AD mosaic of gladiators found on the Borghese estate at Torrenova, on the Via Casilina outside Rome, in 1834) and over-the-top frescoes. Its decorative scheme includes a trompe l’oeil ceiling fresco in the first room (or Salone), by the Sicilian artist Mariano Rossi that makes such good use of foreshortening so much so that it appears almost three-dimensional.The upper floor houses the pinacoteca (picture gallery), a snapshot of Renaissance art.

Pinacoteca (picture gallery)

The entrance hall is decorated with 4th-century floor mosaics of fighting gladiators and a 2nd-century Satiro Combattente (Fighting Satyr). High on the wall is the Marco Curzio a Cavallo, a gravity-defying bas-relief, by Pietro Bernini (Gian Lorenzo’s father), of a horse and rider falling into the void.

Antonio Canova's Venere vincitrice (Victorious Venus or Venus Victrix, 1805–08), a daring depiction of Paolina Bonaparte Borghese, Napoleon's sister

Antonio Canova’s Venere vincitrice (Victorious Venus or Venus Victrix, 1805–08), a daring depiction of Pauline Bonaparte Borghese, Napoleon’s sister

Sala I is centered on Antonio Canova’s Venere vincitrice (Victorious Venus or Venus Victrix, 1805–08), a daring depiction of Pauline Bonaparte Borghese, Napoleon’s sister, reclining topless. It is the most famous piece in the museum and virtually its symbol.

Apollo Chasing Daphne (Gian Lorenzo Bernini)

Kyle and Grace in front of statue of Apollo and Daphne (Gian Lorenzo Bernini)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini‘s spectacular output of secular sculpture of flamboyant depictions of pagan myths also steal the show. In the swirling Apollo e Dafne (Apollo and Daphne, 1622–25, created by Bernini at the tender age of 24 for the Scipione Borghese) in Sala III, Daphne’s hands morph into leaves, while in the dynamic Ratto di Proserpina (Rape of Proserpine, 1621–22) in Sala IV, Pluto’s hand presses into the seemingly soft flesh of Persephone’s thigh.

Rape of Proserpine (Gian Lorenzo Bernini)

All are considered seminal works of Baroque sculpture. Other works include Goat Amalthea with Infant Jupiter and Faun (1615), David (1623) and Aeneas, Anchises & Ascanius (1618–19).

Author in front of statue of Aeneas, Anchises & Ascanius

Sala VIII (Sala de Sileno) is dominated by works by Caravaggio including the dissipated-looking Bacchino Malato (Young Sick Bacchus; 1592–95), the strangely beautiful La Madonna dei Palafenieri (Madonna with Serpent; 1605–06) and San Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist; 1609–10), probably Caravaggio’s last work.

David (Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1623)

There’s also the much-loved Ragazzo col Canestro di Frutta (Boy with a Basket of Fruit, 1593–95), St Jerome Writing (1606), and the dramatic Davide con la Testa di Golia (David with the Head of Goliath; 1609–10, Goliath’s severed head is said to be a self-portrait sent to the Pope to beg for forgiveness after Caravaggio was accused of murder).

Fragment of mosaics

Upstairs, the pinacoteca displays Raphael’s extraordinary La Deposizione di Cristo (Entombment of Christ, 1507) in Sala IX, and his Dama con Liocorno (Lady with a Unicorn; 1506). In the same room is Fra Bartolomeo’s superb Adorazione del Bambino (Adoration of the Christ Child; 1495) and Perugino’s Madonna con Bambino (Madonna and Child; first quarter of the 16th century).

Leda and the Swan (followers of Leonardo da Vinci)

Madonna and Child (Giovanni Battista Sassoferrato)

Other highlights include Correggio’s erotic Danae (1530–31) in Sala X, Bernini’s self-portraits in Sala XIV, and Titian‘s early masterpiece, Amor Sacro e Amor Profano (Sacred and Profane Love; 1514) in Sala XX.

Sleeping Venus (Girolamo da Treviso il Giovane)

The Deposition (Peter Paul Rubens)

There are also works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci. In addition, several portrait busts are included in the gallery, including one of Pope Paul V, and two portraits of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1632, the second portrait was produced after the a large crack was discovered in the marble of the first version during its creation).

Mourning the Dead Christ (Ortolano)

Borghese Gallery: Piazzale del Museo Borghese, 5, 00197 Rome, Italy. Tel: +39 06 841 3979 and +39 06 32810. Open Mondays to Fridays, 9 AM – 6 PM, Saturdays, 9 AM – 1 PM. Website: www.galleriaborghese.it. Admission: € 11.00. To limit numbers, visitors are admitted at two-hourly intervals, so you’ll need to pre-book your ticket and get an entry time.

How to Get There: Pinciana- Museo Borghese (Bus 52, 53, 83, 92, 217, 360, 910)

Villa d’Este – Gardens (Tivoli, Italy)

Posted on 26 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Garden of Villa d’Este

The palatial setting of Villa d’Este is surrounded by a spectacular terraced garden, in the late-Renaissance Mannerist and Baroque style, which took advantage of the dramatic slope but required innovations in bringing a sufficient water supply, which was employed in cascades, water tanks, troughs and pools, water jets and impressive concentration of fountains, water games. This masterpiece of the Italian Garden is included in the UNESCO world heritage list.

Descending into the garden from the villa

Reviving Roman techniques of hydraulic engineering to supply water to a sequence of fountains, the cardinal created a fantasy garden whose architectural elements and water features had an enormous influence on European landscape design and their garden planning and water features such as fountains, nymphs, grottoes, plays of water and music were much copied in the next two centuries, in European gardens from Portugal to Poland to St. Petersburg. The result is one of the series of great 17th century villas with water-play structures in the hills surrounding the Roman Campagna, such as the Villas Aldobrandini and Torlonia in Frascati; the Villa Lante and the Villa Farnese at Caprarola.

Strolling the gardens

Painter, architect, archaeologist and Classical scholar Pirro Ligorio was commissioned to lay out the gardens for the villa, with the assistance of Tommaso Chiruchi (he had worked on the fountains at Villa Lante) of Bologna, one of the most skilled hydraulic engineers of the sixteenth century. In the technical designs for the fountains, Chiruchi was assisted by Claude Venard, a Frenchman who was a manufacturer of hydraulic organs.
From 1605 Cardinal Alessandro d’Estegave the go-ahead to a new progam of interventions. He restored and repaired the vegetation and the waterworks and created a new series of innovations to the layout of the garden and the decorations of the fountains.
From 1660 – 61, works on 2 fountains were carried out involving Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
In the eighteenth century the villa and its gardens passed to the House of Habsburg after Ercole III d’Este bequeathed it to his daughter Maria Beatrice, married to Grand Duke Ferdinand of Habsburg. The gardens were slowly abandoned and The hydraulics fell into disuse and ruin, and many of the collection of ancient sculptures, enlarged under Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, were disassembled and scattered to other sites. This picturesque state of decay continued, without interruption, until the middle of the 19^th century. It was recorded by Carl Blechen and other painters.
In 1851, Cardinal Gustav von Hohelohe, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst, obtained the villa, in enfiteusi, from the Dukes of Modena. To pull the complex back from its state of ruin, he launched a series of works. Between 1867 and 1882, the villa once again became a cultural point of reference.

The garden has been celebrated in poetry, painting and music:

The musician Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886), who evoked the garden in his Les Jeux d’Eaux à la Villa d’Este and composed Giochi d’acqua a Villa d’Este for piano while a guest here, gave one of his last concerts here in 1879.
Jean Garrigue‘s volume of poems A Water Walk by Villa d’Este (1959) continues a long tradition of poetry inspired by the gardens.
Kenneth Anger filmed Eaux d’artifice among the water features of the garden.

Villa d’Este’s fame and glory as one of the finest gardens of the Renaissance was established by its extraordinary system of fountains. It has 51 fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls and 220 basins, all fed by 875 m. of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps.

The gardens, now part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani, fall away in a series of terraces. The garden plan is laid out on a central axis with subsidiary cross-axes, refreshed by some 500 jets in fountains, pools and water troughs. Originally supplied with water by the Rivellese spring (which supplied a cistern under the villa’s courtyard), it is now supplied with water by the nearby Aniene River, which is partly diverted through the town, a distance of a kilometer.

The Vialone with the Cenacolo in the background

The Vialone, a large, 200 m. long terrace that lies between the villa and the gardens, was constructed between 1568 and 1569. It has a panoramic view of the gardens and countryside beyond and the Cardinals used the space for fireworks, games, spectacles and festivities. Originally shaded by two rows of elm trees (except for the space directly in front of the villa, left empty to preserve the view), the terrace is enclosed at one end by the Fountain of Europa and, at the other, by the Cenacolo, an immense loggia and belvedere, in the form of a triumphal arch, that provided shade beneath in summer, as well as commanding viewpoints of the scenery. Its interior, originally intended to be decorated with stucco decoration, gilding and frescoes, was never finished.

The double loggia in the center of the terrace, made with travertine stone from 1566–1577, is attached to the facade of the villa. Two stairways provide access to the ceremonial salons on the lower floor. Its upper level, created as a terrace for the Cardinal’s apartments, contains a Nymphaeum (grotto) where the Fountain of Leda is located. The original statuary of the fountain, depicting Jupiter and Leda transformed into a swan and four children (Elena, Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux), was sold in the 18th century and is now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The original fountain featured a novel hydraulic trick – water spouting from a vase held by Leda struck a metal disk, causing flashes of light to reflect on the walls of the grotto. The statuary has been replaced by headless statue of Minerva, found in the garden of the Palazzo Manni in Tivoli.

The Fountain of the Tripod, a copy (the original is now in the Louvre) of an ancient Roman fountain in the center of the Vialone, has only been there since 1930. It consists of a marble basin supported by a central column and three pilasters. The Fountain of the Sea Horses, the original fountain on the site, was moved, by Ippolito, from Hadrian’s Villa to his garden. It is now in the Vatican Museum.

The Fountain of Europa, at the northeast end at the top of the garden, was begun by Ippolito but was not finished until 1671. Its design, copying that of the Grand Loggia, consists of a triumphal arch with two orders (Corinthian and Doric) of columns. The large empty niche in the center once held a sculpture Europa Embracing the Bull which is now in the VIlla Albani in Rome.

From Fountain of the Tripod, two ramps lead down to the upper garden and, at either end, there are symmetrical double flights of stairs. The shaded Cardinal’s Walk, attached to the retaining wall of the terrace, leads from one side of the garden to the other, passing by several grottos which are built into the retaining wall. The Grotto of Igea and Aesculpius, at the southeast end of the walk, just below the Fountain of Europa, is decorated with tartar flakes, mosaics and colored fragments of sea shells, and a small portion of the original fresco. It originally held two statues. The statue of Aesculpius, the God of Medicine, is now found in the Louvre while that of Igea, the daughter of Auesculpius and the Goddess of Healing, is now in the Vatican Museum.

The Loggia of Pandora, in the middle of the Cardinal’s Walk, just below the center of the Villa, is covered, with arcades looking out at the garden. It contains a nymphaeum built into the wall and, originally, was decorated with mosaics and with two statues of Minerva and a statue of Pandora carrying a vase (actually a concealed fountain pouring out water) of water (symbolizing the evils of the world). The statues were sold in the 18th century. The staue of Pandora and one of the Minervas are now in the Capitoline Museum. In the 19th century, the nymphaeum was converted into a Christian chapel, a favorite place of the composer Franz Liszt, who dedicated two pieces of music to the chapel.

Fontana del Bicchierone (Fountain of the Great Cup)

The Fountain of the Bicchierone, one of two fountains created for the villa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, was made between 1660 and 1661 on a commission from Cardinal Rinaldo I d’Este. The basin of the fountain, in the form of a large shell which reaches up to the level of the terrace, has a toothed Bicchierone (cup or chalice) in the center, from which water sprays upwards. Bernini supervised the building of the fountain and, following its inauguration in May 1661, had the height of the spouting water reduced, to avoid blocking the view from the Loggia of Pandora. Though not part of the original design of the garden, the fountain became a link between the architecture of the palace and the garden.

Fontana del Bicchierone (Fountain of the Great Cup)

The Loggetta of the Cardinal, a small ballustraded terrace between the Fountain of the Biccherone and the garden, was said to be the Cardinal’s favorite spot for reading and discussing poetry and art, and watching the construction of the garden around him. Surrounded by high laurel hedges and stone benches, it originally had a large statue (now found in the Louvre), installed shortly after the Cardinal’s death, of Hercules with the boy Achilles in his arms, overlooking the garden below. It was one of three statues of Hercules, in central positions along the central axis, that were all visible when seen from the bottom the garden, aligned with the loggia of the villa at the top.

The Grotto of Diana, at the end of the Cardinal’s Walk, below the Gran Loggia, is a large underground vaulted chamber decorated from 1570-72 by Paolo Caladrino. It is completely covered with mosaics of mythological scenes, with images of fish, dragons, dolphins, pelicans and other animals, as well as the eagles and apples of the d’Este family. The rustic fountain, its central feature, has a statue of the goddess Diana in a large niche decorated with stucco reliefs of landscapes, the sea and a ship. Sold in the 18th century, all of these statues are now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Some of the original 16th century majolica floor tiles can still be seen.

A walkway, below the Loggetta of the Cardinal, traverses the garden and passes by three grottoes. The Grotto of Hercules, in the center, is covered by the Loggetta of the Cardinal. Beneath it is a cistern and some of the hydraulic machinery for the fountains below. The grotto once had stucco reliefs of either animals or the labors of Hercules and a statue of Hercules in repose (now in the Vatican Museum).

Mask spouting water in the Grotto of Pomona

The Grotto of Pomona, similar in design to the Grotto of Hercules, has some of its original mosaic decoration still visible. The water from a white marble mask (found when the fountain was restored in 2002) pours into a fountain.

Fontana dell’Ovato (Oval Fountain)

The Oval Fountain (Fontana dell’Ovato) one of the first and among the most famous fountains in the garden, was designed by Pirro Ligorio as a water theater, spraying water in variety of forms. Begun in 1565 and finished in 1570, it was made by fountain engineers Tomasso de Como and Curzio Maccarono, with sculpture by Raffaello Sangallo. A massive stone basin, set against the semicircular back wall, cascades water into the fountain and sprays it into the air while water jets into the basin, from vases in the hands of statues of Nereids, and also sprays in fan shapes from vases in niches in the semicircular wall behind the fountain.

An artificial mountain, rising above the fountain, symbolizes the Tiburtine landscape. The mountain is pierced by three grottoes, each pouring forth water, and is decorated with statues representing the Sibyl Albunesa with her son Melicerte, by Gillis van den Vliete (1568), and statues representing rivers Erculaneo and Anio, by Giovanni Malanca (1566), all of which pour water into the Oval Fountain.

An upper walkway, above the fountain, leads past past the ring of basins and cascades. The Grotto of Venus, the fountain’s own grotto, was designed by Pirro Ligorio and built in 1565–68. It served as a meeting place for guests on hot summer days. A figure of Venus, similar to the Capitoline Venus, and two putti , the original statues of the grotto, are no longer there but traces of the monochrome murals of grotesque figures, tiles and sculpted grotto walls still remain.

The fountain on a side wall, framed within a Doric, contains a sculpture of a sleeping nymph in a grotto guarded by d’Este heraldic eagles, with a bas-relief framed in apple boughs that links the villa to the Garden of the Hesperides.

Flanking the central axis are symmetrical double flights of stairs that lead to the next garden terrace. The Grotto of Diana, richly decorated with frescoes and pebble mosaic, is on one side. Water rom the central Fontana del Bicchierone (“Fountain of the Great Cup”), planned by Bernini in 1660, issues from a seemingly natural rock into a scrolling shell-like cup.

La Rometta (Little Rome)

To descend to the next level, there are stairs at either end. La Rometta (“the little Rome”), an elaborate fountain complex, is at the far left. The boat, with an obelisk mast, symbolizes the Tiburtina island in the Tiber, below the statue of Rome Triumphant.

Hundred Fountains

The water jets of the Hundred Fountains (Cento Fontane), on the next level, fill the full length of a long rustic trough. The Fontana dell’Ovato ends the cross-vista. A visitor may walk behind the water through the rusticated arcade of the concave nymphaeum, which is peopled by marble nymphas by Giambattista della Porta. Above the nymphaeum, the sculpture of Pegasus recalls to the visitor the fountain of Hippocrene on Parnassus, haunt of the Muses.

Hundred Fountains

The 16th-century Fontana di Diana Efesina (Fountain of Diana of Ephesus) has water flowing from her numerous breasts, symbolizing fertility and abundance, both of nature and of intellect.

Fountain of Diana of Ephesus

The central Fontana dei Draghi (Fountain of the Dragons), dominating the central perspective of the gardens, was erected for a visit in 1572 of Pope Gregory XIII whose coat-of-arms features a dragon. It unites the terrace to the next. The sound of this fountain was in contrast to a nearby Uccellario with artificial birds. Central stairs lead down a wooded slope to three rectangular fishponds set on the cross-axis at the lowest point of the gardens. It is terminated, at the right, by the water organ (now brought back into use) and Fountain of Neptune (belonging to the 20th century restorations).

Neptune Fountain

The very formal Fountain of the Owl, at the southwest part of the garden, below the Fountain of Rometta and the Fountain of Proserpina, was built between 1565 and 1569 by Giovanni del Duca, These 3 fountains have terraces connected by stairways, with nymphaeums placed beneath the terraces. Placed on a terrace surrounded by walls with niches, it crowned with the white eagles and lily symbols of the d’Este.

The Fountain of the Owl (a.k.a. Bird’s Fountain)

The fountain, covered with polychrome tiles, has the coat of arms of the d’Este, held by two angels, at the top, above the niche flanked by Ionic columns. Though the architectural elements are intact, the statues of two youths holding a goatskin which poured water into a basin held by three satyrs are missing or were destroyed. The sculpture in the niche, believed lost, was rediscovered during a renovation in 2001–02, hidden under mineral deposits and earth.

This fountain also produced music, thanks to Its ingenious automaton made by the French organ maker Luc Leclerc, installed in 1566, before the Fountain of the Organ on the other side of the garden. It featured wenty painted bronze birds placed in the niche, posed on two metal olive branches. Each bird sang an individual song, produced by piped water and air. A mechanical owl appeared, and the birds stopped singing; then, at the end of the performance, all the birds sang together. This musical feature was admired and copied in other European gardens, and functioned until the end of the 17th century. It needed constant repair due the action of the water on its delicate mechanism, and by the 19th century were completely ruined. The decorative elements of the fountain were completely restored in the 19030s, and restored again in 2001-2002, ^[21]

During the restoration work of 2001–02, the workers found some of the original mechanism that produced the bird songs, including the wind chamber, the tubes that moved the air and water, and the machinery that made the owl move. Using modern materials, Leonardo Lombardi was able to make a new version of the old machinery so the birds can sing and move again.

The series of terraces above terraces and the imposing constructions in the hanging cliffs of the “Valle gaudente” bring to mind the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world plus, the addition of water (including an aqueduct tunneling beneath the city) evokes the engineering skill of the Romans. Its landscape, art and history (which includes the important ruins of ancient villas such as the magnificent Villa Adriana) as well as a zone rich in caves and waterfalls (which display the unending battle between water and stone) is generally considered within the larger and, altogether extraordinary, context of Tivoli itself.

Fountain of the d’Este eagles

Villa d‘ Este: Piazza Trento, 5, 00019 Tivoli, RM, Italy. Tel: 0039 0412719036. Fax: 0039 0412770747. E-mail: villadestetivoli@teleart.org. Website: www.villadestetivoli.info.

Open 8.30 AM – 6.45 PM (May to August), 8:30 AM – 4 PM (January, November, December), 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM (February), 8:30 AM – 5:15 PM (March), 8:30 AM – 6:30 PM (April), 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM (October) and 8:30 AM – 6:15 PM (September). Admission: € 8.00. The visitor can take pictures without any physical contact with the cultural heritage and he cannot use either flash or tripod.

How to Get There:

Taking the blue regional COTRAL busRoma Tivoli-Via Prenestina at the bus terminal just outside Ponte Mammolo station of metro line B; the stop Largo Nazioni Unite is about 100m far from the entrance of the Villa.
Taking the urban train line FL2 (Roma-Pescara Line) from Tiburtina stationto Tivoli station (Stazione Tivoli), then, local bus CAT number 1 or 4/ to Piazza Garibaldi stop; the stop is in Tivoli’s main square in front of the Villa.

Villa d’Este – Villa (Tivoli, Italy)

Posted on 26 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Villa d’Este, a villa near Rome listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, is a fine example of Renaissance architecture and the Italian Renaissance garden. Since December 2014, it has been run as a State Museum by the Polo Museale del Lazio.

Villa d’Este

Here are some historical trivia regaring the villa:

The Villa d’Este was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, son ofAlfonso I d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia; grandson of Pope Alexander VI and the appointed governor of Tivoli (from 1550) by Pope Julius III (the villa was the pope’s gift). Cardinal d’Este, after 5 failed bids for the papacy, saw to its construction from 1550 until his death in 1572, when the villa was nearing completion. He drew inspiration (and many statues and much of the marble used for construction) from the nearby Villa Adriana, the palatial retreat of Emperor Hadrian.
The villa was entirely reconstructed to plans ofpainter-architect-archeologist Pirro Ligorio and carried out under the direction of the Ferrarese architect-engineer Alberto Galvani, court architect of the Este.
The rooms of the Palace were decorated under the tutelage of the stars of the late Roman Mannerism, such as Livio Agresti (the chief painter of the ambitious internal decoration) fromForlì, Federico Zuccari, Durante Alberti, Girolamo Muziano, Cesare Nebbia and Antonio Tempesta. The work was almost complete at the time of the Cardinal’s death (1572).
Pirro Ligorio was responsible for the iconographic programs worked out in the villa’s frescos.
In the 18^th century, the lack of maintenance led to the decay of the complex and the villa and its gardens passed to theHouse of Habsburg after Ercole III d’Este bequeathed it to his daughter Maria Beatrice, married to Grand Duke Ferdinand of Habsburg. The villa and its gardens were neglected.
In 1851, Cardinal Gustav von Hohelohe, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst, obtained the villa, in enfiteusi, from the Dukes of Modena. To pull the complex back from its state of ruin, he launched a series of works. Between 1867 and 1882, the villa once again became a cultural point of reference.
After World War I, Villa d’Este was purchased for the Italian State, restored, and refurnished with paintings from the storerooms of the Galleria Nazionale, Rome.
During the 1920s, it was restored and opened to the public.
Immediately after World War II, another radical restoration was carried out to repair the damage caused by the bombing of 1944.
During the past 20 years, due to particularly unfavorable environmental conditions, the restorations have continued practically without interruption. Among these is the recent cleaning of the Organ Fountain (also the “Birdsong”).

Entrance

Here, Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este brought back to life the splendor of the courts of Ferrara, Rome and Fontainebleau. The villa is surrounded, on three sides, by a sixteenth-century courtyard sited on the former Benedictine cloister. The central main entrance leads to the Appartamento Vecchio (“Old Apartment”) made for Ippolito d’Este. Its vaulted ceilings was frescoed in secular allegories by Livio Agresti and his students, centered on the grand Sala, with its spectacular view down the main axis of the garden.

Courtyard

To the left and right are suites of rooms. The suite on the left contains Cardinal Ippolito’s’s library and his bedchamber with the chapel beyond, and the private stairs to the lower apartment, the Appartamento Nobile, which gives directly onto Pirro Ligorio’s Cenacolo (Gran Loggia) straddling the graveled terrace with a triumphal arch motif.

Cenacolo (Grand Loggia) with its triumphal arch motif

A series of highly decorated rooms, less formal than the Cardinal’s personal apartments above it, are each decorated with a specific theme, all connected to nature, mythology and water. Reached by a large ceremonial stairway that descends from the courtyard, they have high vaulted ceilings (receiving light from a series of openings to the courtyard above), are connected to each other by a long narrow corridor and were used for private moments in the life of the Cardinal; listening to music or poetry; conversation, reading and religious reflection.

Corridor

The ceiling of the corridor, decorated with late 16th century mosaics representing a pergola inhabited by colorful birds (making it seem a part of the garden) and also features three elaborate rustic fountains containing miniature grottos framed with columns and pediments.

Room of Noah

The Room of Noah, dated to 1571 (at the end of the decoration of the villa) and attributed to Girolamo Muziano (famous for scenes of Venetian landscapes), has walls covered with frescoes designed to resemble tapestries, intertwined with scenes of Classical landscapes, ruins, rustic farm houses, and other scenes covering every inch of the ceiling and walls. The major scenes portrayed are the Four Seasons, allegories of Prudence and Temperance, and the central scene of Noah with the ark shortly after its landing on Mount Ararat, making an agreement with God. A white eagle, the symbol of the d’Este, is prominently shown landing from the Ark.

Room of Moses

The next room is the Room of Moses. The fresco at the center of its ceiling shows Moses striking a rock with his rod, bringing forth water for the people of Israel, an allusion to the Cardinal who brought water to the villa’s gardens by making channels through the rock. Other panels show scenes from the life of Moses, a hydra with seven heads, the emblem of the family of Ercole I d’Este(an ancestor of Ippolito) and fantastic landscapes.

Room of Venus

The Room of Venus originally had, as its centerpiece, a large fountain (a basin of water with a classical statue of a sleeping Venus) with an artificial cliff and grotto framed in stucco. In the 19th century, the basin was removed and the Venus (removed after the death of the Cardinal) was replaced by two new statues of Peace and Religion representing a scene at the grotto of Lourdes. The original terra cotta floor, featuring the white eagle of the d’Este family, is still in place. The 17th century painting on the ceiling of angels offering flowers to Venus is the only other decoration in the room.

First Tiburtine Room

The First and Second Tiburtine Rooms both made before 1569 by a team of painters led by Cesare Nebia, both have a common plan and its decoration illustrates stories from mythology and the history of Tiburtine region (where the villa is located). The walls are covered with painted architectural elements (with the spaces between are filled with floral designs, medals, masks and other insignia), including columns and doors and elaborate painted moldings and sculptural elements.

Second Tiburtine Room

Illustrated in the Second Tiburtine Room is the story of the Tiburtine Sibyl, its main theme, plus the legend of King Annius (the Aniene River, which provides the water for the fountains of the villa, takes his name from him). The Sibyl, King Annius and the personification of the Aniene River, along with the Triumph of Apollo, all appear in the frescoes of the room.

Wall painting detail at First Tiburtine Room

The frescoes of the First Tiburtine Room illustrates the story of three legendary Greek brothers (Tiburtus, Coras and Catillus) who defeated the Sicels, an Italic tribe, and built a new city, Tibur (now Tivoli). Their battle, as well as other events in the founding of the region, is illustrated in the central fresco of the ceiling. The decoration of the room also includes the Tenth Labor of Hercules as well as pairs of gods and goddesses (Vulcan and Venus; Jupiter and Juno; Apollo with Diana; and Bacchus with Circe) in painted niches. On the wall is an illustration of the oval fountain, which Ippolito was building at the time the room was decorated.

Salon of the Fountain

The Salon of the Fountain, designed and made between 1565 and 1570, probably by Girolamo Muziano and his team of artists, was used by Cardinal Ippolito as a reception room for guests, who had just arrived through the garden below, and for concerts and other artistic events. A wall fountain, its central element, was finished in 1568 by Paolo Calandrino. Its basin rests on two stone dolphins. The fountain is covered with multicolored ceramics and sculpture, encrusted with pieces of glass, seashells and precious stones, and is crowned by the white eagle of the d’Este family.

The fountain at the Salon of the Fountain

The central niche has reliefs depicting the fountain, the Tiburtine acropolis and the Temple of the Sibyl. On the other walls are images of the house and unfinished garden and fountains, and a small illustration, on the opposite wall, from the fountain of Ippolito’s villa (now a residence of the Pope) on the Quirinal Hill in Rome. The ceiling paintings are devoted to scenes of mythology with each corner having portraits of a different gods and goddesses (tradition says that the painting of Mercury is a self-portrait of Muziano).

Ceiling fresco at Salon of the Fountain

The central fresco on the ceiling, modeled after a similar work by Raphael in the Loggia of Psyche in the Villa Farnesina, depicts the Synod of the Gods, with Jupiter in the center surrounded by all the gods of Olympus. The hall connects with the loggia, and from there a stairway descends to the garden.

Room of Hercules

The Room of Hercules, dating to 1565–66, was also one by Muziano. The ceiling paintings depict eight of the labors of Hercules, surrounded by depictions of landscapes, ancient architecture, and the graces and the virtues. The ceiling’s central painting shows Hercules being welcomed into Olympus by the gods.

Ceiling fresco of Hercules welcomed to Olympus

The Room of the Nobility, done by Federico Zuccari and his team of painters, has a central ceiling fresco depicting “Nobility on the throne between Liberality and Generosity.” The decoration on the walls includes paintings of busts of Classical philosophers (Diogenes , Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, etc.), the Graces and Virtues, and Diana of Ephesus (the goddess of Fertility).

Room of the Nobility

The Room of Glory, completed between 1566 and 1577 by Federico Zuccari and eight assistants, with painted illusions of doors, windows, tapestries, sculptures, and of everyday objects used by the Cardinal, is a masterpiece of Roman Mannerist painting. The Allegory of Glory, the central painting of the ceiling, has been lost but there are allegorical depictions of the Virtues, the Four Seasons, and of Religion, Magnanimity, Fortune and Time.

Room of Glory

The Hunting Room, built later than the other rooms (from the end of the 16th or beginning the 17th century), is in a different style. It features hunting scenes, rural landscapes, hunting trophie and, oddly, scenes of naval battles. The “Snail Stairway,” built with travertine stone, descends to the garden. Originally built to access a pallacorda (an ancestor of tennis) court which Ippolito imported into Italy from the French Court, the space where the court was located now houses the cafeteria and bookstore.

Hunting Room

The Villa’s uppermost terrace ends in a balustraded balcony at the left end, with a sweeping view over the plain below. The grounds of the Villa d’Este also house the Museo Didattico del Libro Antico, a teaching museum for the study and conservation of antiquarian books.

L-R: Kyle, Cheska, Grace and Jandy

Villa d‘ Este: Piazza Trento, 5, 00019 Tivoli, RM, Italy. Tel: 0039 0412719036. Fax: 0039 0412770747. E-mail: villadestetivoli@teleart.org. Website: www.villadestetivoli.info.

How to Get There:

Taking the blue regional COTRAL busRoma Tivoli-Via Prenestina at the bus terminal just outside Ponte Mammolo station of metro line B; the stop Largo Nazioni Unite is about 100m far from the entrance of the Villa.
Taking the urban train line FL2 (Roma-Pescara Line) from Tiburtina stationto Tivoli station (Stazione Tivoli), then, local bus CAT number 1 or 4/ to Piazza Garibaldi stop; the stop is in Tivoli’s main square in front of the Villa.

Hadrian’s Villa (Tivoli, Italy)

Posted on 26 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Our first trip outside Rome brought us to Hadrian’s Villa (Villa Adriana in Italian), a large, important Roman cultural and archaeological site, major tourist destination (along with the nearby Villa d’Este and the town of Tivoli) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site at Tibur (now modern-day Tivoli). It is situated southeast of Tivoli, on a small plain extending on the slopes of the Tiburine Hills. In early times, it was accessed by the Via Tiburtina and the Aniene river, a tributary of the Tiber River.

Hadrian’s Villa

Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was said to dislike the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, built the villa as his retreat from Rome. Around AD 128, it became his official residence, actually governing the empire from here during the later years of his reign. Therefore, a large court had to live there permanently and a postal service kept it in contact with Rome 29 kms. (18 mi.) away. Although its architect is unknown, it is said that Hadrian had a direct intervention in the design of the villa.

L-R: Cheska, Kyle, Grace and Jandy

After Hadrian, the villa was occasionally used by his various successors. Busts of Antoninus Pius (138-161), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Lucius Verus (161-169), Septimius Severus and Caracalla have been found on the premises and Zenobia, the deposed queen of Palmyra, possibly lived here in the 270s after her defeat by Emperor Aurelian.

The author with Jandy

In the 4th century, during the decline of the Roman Empire, the villa gradually fell into disuse. It was partially ruined as valuable statues and marble were taken away and, during the destructive Gothic War (535–554) between the Ostrogoths and Byzantines, the facility was used as a warehouse by both sides.

Remains of lime kilns, where marble from the complex was burned to extract lime for building material, have been found. In the 16th century, much of the remaining marble and statues in Hadrian’s Villa was removed to decorate Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este own Villa d’Este located nearby. In the 18th century, many antiquities were also excavated by dealers such as Piranesi and Gavin Hamilton to sell to Grand Tourists and antiquarians such as Charles Towneley. They are now in major antiquities collections elsewhere in Europe and North America.

Today, the villa is a property of the Republic of Italy and, since December 2014, was directed and run by the Polo Museale del Lazio . Because of the rapid deterioration of the ruins, the villa was placed on the 100 Most Endangered Sites 2006 list of the World Monuments Watch.

The site of this luxurious complex is a vast area of land (much still unexcavated) with over 30 buildings (including a theatre, libraries, a stadium, servants’ quarters, etc.) covering an area of at least 1 sq. km. (c. 250 acres or 100 ha.), all constructed in travertine, lime, pozzolana and tufa, plus many pools, fountains and water features; thermal baths (thermae); underground supply tunnels; and classical Greek architecture. Abundant water was readily available from aqueducts that passed through Rome, including Anio Vetus, Anio Nobus, Aqua Marcia and Aqua Claudia.

The ground stretches from north to south on a rise of about 40 m., starting from the foot of Monte Arcese, at the top of which is the town of Tivoli. The scale was so amazing, we spent hours wandering among the extensive ruins but only explored a number of buildings. There are essentially three types of buildings in Hadrian’s Villa – servants quarters, secondary buildings (ex. Great Baths) and noble buildings (ex. Small Baths).

1950s plastic model of Hadrian’s Villa

The villa, described as an architectural masterpiece and the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreates a sacred landscape and shows echoes of many different architectural orders (mostly Greek and Egyptian) and innovations.

Wall of the Poikile

The designs were borrowed and utilized by the very well traveled Hadrian who personally supervised the building work and included these architectural features to remind him of his travels, of the countries he had visited and the times the bisexual Hadrian spent with his deified favorite and lover, Antinous (accidentally drowned in Egypt), around whose youthful charm a cult was established. It is thought that Hadrian modelled parts of his palace on sites he knew and admired throughout his empire, from Athens to Egypt, giving them names such as Lyceum, Academy, Prytaneum, Canopus, Poikile and Tempes. He even made an Underworld.

The Pecile

One of the first stops on our tour of the villa was a little pavilion housing a 1950s plastic model of the villa, giving us an idea of the original appearance of the site. We then passed through a large Wall of the Poikile (a huge rectangular colonnade with a pool in the center, half the structure rests on a large artificial platform), arriving at Hadrian’s Pecile, a huge garden surrounded by an arcade and a large, restored rectangular 232 by 97 m. swimming pool, fishpond or lake in the center of the quadriportico, originally surrounded by four walls (creating a peaceful solitude for Hadrian and guests) with Greek-style colonnaded (these columns helped to support the roof) interior.

The Cento Camerelle (Hundred Chambers)

The less visible Cento Camerelle (Hundred Chambers), beneath the esplanade of the Pecile, consists of dozens of rooms of lower quality that identify them as the living quarters of the Villa’s serving class. To keep these rooms from becoming too humid, it has a hollow double wall separating them from the adjacent hill. and vast amount of rooms in the Chambers help .

The Building with Three Exedrae

The Building with Three Exedrae, a rectangular, highly articulated complex, has a triple exedra with porticoes on three of its outer walls. One wing of the building has mainly open spaces while the other more has more enclosed areas. The north-facing rooms were used for summer banquets.

The Canopus

Caryatids

Statue of Neptune

The Canopus (named after an Egyptian resort next to Alexandria), one of the most striking and best preserved parts of the villa, is a 119 m. long by 18 m. wide lake with Greek-influenced architecture (typical in Roman architecture of the High and Late Empire) that can be seen in the Corinthian columns, connected to each other with marble, and the copies of famous Greek caryatids that surround the pool.

Statue of an Amazon

Statue of Ares

The Serapeum

At its farthest end is the Serapeum, a temple with with a peculiarly-shaped umbrella dome and artificial grotto dedicated to the god Serapis. The Corinthian arches of the Canopus and Serapeum as well as the domes of the main buildings, show clear Roman architecture. Fine mosaics are still preserved in a row of sleeping chambers. Some of the more recent finds and statues from the site are on display in a museum near the Canopus.

The Small Bath (Piccole Terme)

Just northwest of the Canopus, in the central part of the villa, are the ruins of the Great and Small Baths. In front were the palestras, open paved courtyards where excersises took place, then calidariums (hot water bath), tepidarium (warm bath), laconicums (circular shaped saunas) and frigidariums (cold water rinsing room). Scattered throughout are a few latrines, one of a single seater in the Small Baths and two public ones in the Great Baths.

The Great Bath (Grandi Terme)

The Great Baths (Grandi Terme) were paved in opus spicatum (a simple black and white mosaic) while the Small Baths (Piccole Terme) were done in the higher quality marble opus sectile.

Frigidarium of the Great Bath

Both used white marble (especially typical of water basins in the villa) revetments as a type of finish and colored fresco ceiling decorations could also be found throughout each (the Small Baths even have some of the red and white pattern still visible today). The noble Small Baths exhibited more elaborate architecture. At the Octagon Hall, the perspective view through other rooms create an illusion of infinite space.

Beautiful stucco decoration at the Great Bath

The Praetorium, dating to 125-133 CE, has two distinct levels. The upper level, reserved for distinguished guests, has lavishly decorated rooms facing a large garden to the south, with walls and pavements in opus sectile, and Doric columns of cipollino marble. The lower level, composed of three floors of substructions (servants’ lodgings), supported the richly decorated upper part. It has rooms of utilitarian purpose such as storage rooms and perhaps dormitory rooms for the service staff.

The Praetorium

Hadrian’s Villa: Largo Marguerite Yourcenar, 1, 00010 Tivoli RM, Italy. Tel: +39 0774 530203. Admission: €6.50. Open 9 AM to 7 PM.

How to Get There: Frequent buses, operated by Cotral, run from Rome to Tivoli along the Via Tiburtina. They depart from a bus station outside Ponte Mammolo Metro station on Linea B, nine stops from Stazione Termini. This bus service stops on the main road, the Via Tiburtina, about a mile from Hadrian’s Villa. Ask the driver where to get off, then walk along the suburban Via di Villa Adriana to the site’s entrance. An alternative service from Rome to Tivoli, which runs along the Via Prenestina, stops nearer to the villa, but is very infrequent.

An alternative is to catch a second bus out from Tivoli to the archaeological site. A local company called CAT runs a bus service (numbers 4, 4X) from Tivoli to the suburbs near the Villa Adriana. It calls at various bus stops in Tivoli including Piazza Garibaldi. Tickets cost €1 per journey and can be bought at the CAT office, shops and news-stands in Tivoli and from a bar opposite the bus stop (buy your return ticket in advance). Ask the driver where to get off, as the bus drops you a few hundred yards from the site. To return towards Tivoli, leave the villa, walk past the little park and continue straight along the road for a few yards till you find a bus stop. Since the CAT local bus takes the same Via Tiburtina route up into Tivoli as the Cotral buses, you can cross the road and change to the Rome-bound service without riding all the way back into Tivoli.

You can then return to Rome by one of three methods: catch the occasional Via Prenestina bus, walk back to the Via Tiburtina to catch the frequent Rome Cotral bus, or take the CAT service either to the Via Tiburtina or all the way back into Tivoli and change there for a Rome service. It can be slow getting back into Rome during the rush hour, so it’s worth considering visiting on a Saturday when the roads may be clearer.

Church of Santa Maria Maddalena (Rome, Italy)

Posted on 25 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Church of Santa Maria Magalena

Named after Saint Mary Magdalene, this Roman Catholic church is located on the one of the streets leading from the Piazza della Rotonda in the Campo Marzio area of historic Rome. Started in the 17th century, the current church was completed in 1699 after seventy years of work involving several architects including Carlo Quadri, Carlo Fontana (who is thought to have designed the dome) and Giovanni Antonio de Rossi. It is uncertain who designed the curved main Rococo-style (unusual style in Roman church facades) facade, which was finished circa 1735.

The elongated, octagonal Borrominesque nave flanked by two chapels

Built in the Baroque style, early guide books credit Giuseppe Sardi with its highly unusual façade decoration. It also displays motifs reminiscent of Borromini. Between 1732 and 1734, Portuguese Manuel Rodrigues dos Santos (historian Alessandra Marino believes that it is Dos Santos, rather than Giuseppe Sardi, that the design should be attributed), an architect of the order, directed the completion of works at the church. The monastery, on the church’s left, was constructed circa 1678 by Paolo Amato (from Palermo) and completed in the early 1680s by C.F. Bizzacheri.

The architecturally complex interior has an elongated, octagonal Borrominesque nave flanked by two chapels. The main chapel, to the right, is dedicated to and holds the relics of Saint Camillus, its vault frescoed in 1744 by Sebastiano Conca. The church also has a Christ, Virgin, and St. Nicolas of Bari by Baciccia and a San Lorenzo Giustiniani with Infant Jesus by Luca Giordano. The elaborately painted, stuccoed Rococo sacristy is decorated with polychrome marble.

Church of Santa Maria Maddalena: Via della Maddalena, Rome, Italy

This travel blog, a diary of the author’s local and international travels, aims to provide the reader with news and information on people, places and events that would interest the avid traveler and tourist. But, it also aims to be much more, providing insights on the wonders of this beautiful country, as well as the world, beyond the strict confines of the city. Have a BLAST seeing old churches, exotic temples, educational museums as well as palm-fringed islands; white sand beaches; thundering waterfalls; placid lakes; fiery sunsets; turquoise seas; cathedral-like caves; swirling rivers; majestic mountains; stupendous, amphitheater-like rice terraces; awesome volcanoes and the like. Get to know the movers and shakers in the tourism industry; find out where to titillate the palate; rejuvenate your body; feed your adrenalin, unwind and relax; satisfy your craving for history and culture; and find out what's being celebrated and where.

BENJAMIN “BENJIE” LAYUG, an architect by profession (he finished his B. S. Architecture degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1982), is also a copy editor for two publishing houses; travel writer; blogger; architectural historian; author; concert. movie and musical reviewer (for www.pep.ph); and a motivational speaker.

As a free-lance travel writer, he has, in the past, contributed articles to Travel Update, Philippine Daily Inquirer, COLORS, TODAY, 7107 Islands Magazine, Business Day and Bluprint. He currently writes for Artplus Magazine and the Business Mirror.

He is also the author of the following travel books:

A Philippine Odyssey (New Day Publishers, 2005)
Pathfinder’s Travel Guide: Boracay (Great Books Trading, 2006)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches (New Day Publishers, 2007)
A Tourist to Notable Philippine Historical Landmarks, Monuments and Shrines (New Day Publishers, 2010)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Museums (New Day Publishers, 2012)

Some of his books now appear in the local library shelves of the National Library of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, U.P. Diliman, Centro Escolar University, San Sebastian College, Miriam College, Silliman University, to name a few, as well as internationally at the National Library of Australia and the University of California Berkeley Library.

Now a senior citizen, he is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, active travel blogger in the country today. He also has a lifestyle blog called F.Y.I.:Firing Your Imagination (www.firingyourimagination.blogspot.com). Benjie has traveled to two-thirds (53) of the country’s 81 provinces and over 20 countries in 4 continents.

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